Chen Xiaoping
Xu Geng was the "chief copywriter" of Li Hongzhang in his twilight years, the most famous cool official in the late Qing Dynasty, who buried suspects alive to death, and was also the culprit who seized the Changlong machine silk reeling factory. Xu Geng's ups and downs in his life highlighted the style of some cool officials and helped to deepen his understanding of the officialdom of the late Qing Dynasty.
Li Hongzhang and Xu Geng are in Tianjin
Bury Zheng Chengwang alive
Xu Geng (1847-1907), a native of Wucheng (present-day Huzhou), Zhejiang, donated to Fujian in 1867 as a deputy Gongsheng newspaper, and because of his avoidance of changing the province of Guangdong, he successively signed Suixi, Lufeng, and Nanhaizhi counties. Xu Geng was unusually intelligent, had a good pen, and had been practicing in the Guangdong official field for several years, and had glimpsed the background of being an official. He was extremely assertive, his style was fierce, he was appreciated by some superiors, and he often offended various forces. Xu Geng was known for his harshness and was accused of indiscriminate killing and indiscriminate torture on many occasions, of which the case of burying Zheng Chengwang alive was the most sensational.
Xu Geng Majesty
At the end of the seventh year of Guangxu, there were Beijing officials participating in the performance, Xu Geng Majesty Guangxu five years "during the term of office in Lufeng County, went to the countryside to collect grain, an old man surnamed Zheng was more than seventy years old, because of language violations, the general ordered military service to bury him alive to death, covered to the half of the body, so that the brave Huang De used a knife to cut." The imperial court issued a decree requiring the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Guangdong to strictly investigate. In the third month of the lunar calendar of the following year, Zeng Guoquan, the governor of Liangguang, resumed the performance, and because the confession of the servant in question was wandering, Zheng Chengwang's son was not present at the time of the incident, and the repetition was "a matter of indiscriminate killing, and it is urgent to strictly investigate". The imperial court received a repetition reiterating that "Xu Geng is about to be dismissed from his post and waiting for the interrogation." The case of Zheng Chengwang's buried death is a very serious case and must be strictly investigated." After receiving the edict, Zeng Guoquan sent someone to investigate and deal with it, and asked for the arrest of "there is no Xu Geng Majesty inside and outside the city". (Declaration, October 2, 1883) Xu Geng had an internal response at the Yamen and immediately turned himself in on the day the wanted order was issued, so as to exonerate himself of the crime of "absconding from the crime".
Zeng Guoquan
The prefect of Huizhou sent Zheng Chengwang's sons Zheng Mahou, Yongding Huang Deyong, and Mengong Zheng An to the provincial capital for interrogation. During his detention, zheng an important witness, died of illness in the office awaiting trial. In 1884, Zhang Zhidong took over as the governor of Liangguang, gathered more parties and witnesses, appointed the prefect of Guangzhou and other officials to try, and finally Zhang Zhidong personally examined and approved the case. According to Zhang Zhidong's 1885 note to the imperial court, Zheng Chengwang was "fierce and fierce", and he was not at peace with his separated brother Zheng Chenglin, and he was bullied from time to time. On July 18, 2005, Zheng Chenglin hired someone to pick rice to sell in Weishi, and Zheng Chengwang instigated his son Zheng Mahou to gather people to snatch the rice away. Zheng Chenglin's wife filed a complaint with the county, and the messenger captured Zheng Niujian, who was robbing rice, and on the way to Xie county, Zheng Chengwang led someone to snatch Zheng Niujian away and beat up the servant.
At that time, Xu Geng was going to the countryside to urge the march, that is, on August 16, he led the brave soldiers to Zheng Village, captured Zheng Chengwang, and walked outside the village, Zheng Chengwang shouted and scolded all the way, Xu Geng majesty asked Ya Gong to take a knife and strangle him under Zheng Chengwang's neck, trying to make him stop, but Zheng Chengwang continued to shout and scold, and Zheng Chengwang stabbed Zheng Chengwang's throat with a knife and fell to the ground. Xu Geng inspected the injuries and thought that he could not survive, so he ordered a pit of more than two inches deep on the side of the road, put Zheng Chengwang's hands into the pit, and filled the soil to the navel eye. However, the height of the filling soil, the folk have another saying to the chest. Soon, Zheng Chengwang died in the pit. At that time, Zheng Chengwang's wife was seriously ill, and his son Zheng Mama was afraid of sin and avoided it, and there were no relatives at the scene, and the next day Zheng Chengwang's two sons-in-law collected the body and buried it.
Zhang Zhidong's position is obvious, that is, to try his best to exonerate Xu Geng, the most effective way is to aggravate Zheng Chengwang's crime and think that he has committed the crime of "deserving death", so that Xu Geng's abuse and killing of Zheng Chengwang will become "killing a criminal who should be killed without authorization", according to the laws of the Great Qing Dynasty, and at most he will only be sentenced to cane responsibility. (Manuscripts of Qing Dynasty Celebrity Manuscripts Collected in Modern History, Vol. II, Vol. 111, pp. 572-582) In fact, Zheng Chengwang robbed his brother Zheng Chenglin of rice, which was only worth one or two or five dollars, which should be a bullying act between brothers for a detailed reason, not called "robbery crime". Xu Geng must kill Zheng Chengwang, mainly because he greatly offended the official Wei: one was to beat up the servants and let Zheng Niujian go; the other was to break his mouth and scold on the way to Xiexian County. By torturing and killing Zheng Chengwang, Xu Geng Majesty sounded the alarm for a number of "powerful" and "earthen sticks" in Lufeng County with a thunderous momentum, and also greatly deterred the flower households who had not yet paid money and grain.
Zhang Zhidong had long heard of Xu Geng's name and wanted to reuse it. During the trial, Xu Geng continued to submit drafts to Zhang Zhidong, put forward various suggestions, and also wrote a life order for Zhang Zhidong; at the same time, Xu Geng also helped the middle and senior officials in the province at that time to write notes on behalf of Chen, and these officials would intercede for him in front of Zhang Zhidong. A comprehensive inspection of Zhang Zhidong's performance can see the traces of Xu Geng's active operation in all aspects. He gave full play to his advantage of being familiar with the provisions of the law, adding the Zheng family's crime to the maximum, reducing his own responsibility to the lightest, and the image of the "knife and pen official" jumped on the paper.
After Zhang Zhidong became the governor of Liangguang, he was determined to reform the long-standing shogunate system, changing the shogunate into a copywriter and weakening the power control of senior shoguns. At that time, Shen Bin, the most powerful master in Guangdong, had a festival with Xu Geng. Zhang Zhidong used the black materials collected by Xu Geng to expel Shen Bin, and then introduced Xu Geng and others into the Governor's Office as a copywriting committee member, replacing the previous work of "Master Shi". In this way, Xu Geng was treated as a criminal and served as a "chief clerk" in the shogunate of Zhang Zhidong. (Selected Manuscripts of Guangdong Literature and History, Vol. VI, p. 218) Zhang Zhidong exonerated Xu Geng, precisely because he valued his use.
As the saying goes, "Thunder in the sky, abundant sea and land underground." "The people in guangdong's Hailufeng area are fierce, and Comrade Peng Pan was able to take the lead in carrying out the peasant movement here, which is not unrelated to this. At the time of the crime, Xu Geng was collecting grain in the countryside, and he was worried about the people's resistance to grain, and he must use tough measures to deal with the behavior of civil resistance, so as to deter the whole county, so that the flower households know what they are afraid of and obediently accept the grain. Burying Zheng Chengwang alive was Xu Geng's means of liwei. For high-ranking officials at the provincial level, Xu Geng's approach is certainly excessive, but the purpose is to establish the authority of the government, which must be supported no matter what. Therefore, Zhang Shusheng and Zhang Zhidong, the governors of Liangguang, tried everything to shield him. Zheng Chengwang's sin does not lead to death, but officials at all levels must convict him of a "crime that must die", which is determined by the common interests of the officialdom.
Banning machine reeling plants
In the seventh year of Guangxu (1881), Xu Geng was transferred from Lufengzhi County to Nanhaizhi County. Nanhai is the capital of Guangdong, which also administers the provincial capital Xiguan, and is the most economically developed county in Guangdong, and is famous for its silk industry. China's first machine reeling factory Chen Qiyuan founded the "JiChanglong" was born here, Xu Geng is the culprit who destroyed the machine reeling industry.
In the sweltering heat of Lingnan in 1881, Chen Zhiyu, a man from Guanshan Wei in Nanhai County, reported to the county bureau that at two o'clock in the afternoon of August 13, more than 1,000 handicraft workers from Dagangwei rushed into Guanshan, smashed the gate of the "Yuchanghou" silk reeling factory, snatched the factory's belongings, and fled. "Yu Chang Hou" is a machine reeling factory, which was opened by Chen Zhiyu and Chen Zhishu in the fifth year of Guangxu (1879). Chen Zhiyu asked Zhixian to send soldiers from the wu camp to the scene to suppress the bullet and maintain normal law and order. This year is the 9th year that Chen Qiyuan founded changlong machine reeling factory.
Xu Geng immediately sent people to the countryside to investigate, and learned that there were three silk reeling factories in Xuetang Township, Nanhai County, "Yu Houchang", "JiChanglong", and "Jinghechang", using machine reeling, which could reel forty or fifty pounds of silk per day, which was equivalent to the output of 400 manual workers. The handicraft workers in Dagangwei were resentful of this, so they gathered the masses in the name of "Nylon Hall", destroyed the "YuHouchang" silk factory machinery, took the opportunity to rob silk cocoons, silver coins, clothes, and murder. Xu Geng's majesty commented: "Bandits who use the end of the robbery are inherently guilty of crimes that cannot be condemned; and the sick people of the city servants are also difficult to forgive." On the surface, each of them played fifty large boards, but the tendency was very obvious, and it was also the proper meaning of the topic to blame the occurrence of the incident on the "patent patients" of the machine reeling factory, and ordered all the machine reeling factories to stop work immediately and "ban them all"; of course, investigating and dealing with the masterminds of the trouble and the suspects of murder was also the proper meaning of the topic. (Xu Geng's "Not Self-PityIng" Vol. 6)
On the second day after Xu Geng showed his edict, there were still 2,000 or 3,000 handicraft workers armed with flags to attack Xuetang Township, and although they were bravely suppressed by the soldiers, they still shouted and charged; Xuetang Township also made preparations, increased the wall, and fired guns from both sides, killing 1 person. Only then did Xu Geng realize that the handicraft workers relied on a large number of people, bullied others, and even despised the government. He had to send a large contingent of soldiers to Huaxia Township and Xinyong Township to arrest the bandits Feng Yajing, Feng Zhaobing, and others, while the first offenders, Feng Yajin and Feng Yadi, had already absconded.
Xu Geng's understanding of this matter profoundly reflects that forty years after the Opium War, the local officials in the South China Sea in Guangdong, who had frequent contacts with the West, had no understanding of world economic development and technological progress. He believes that "the various provinces have established and handled the machines, which are all handled by the officials and the ming, and the commoners must not be unauthorized." Xu Geng's belief that the silk industry's extensive use of machines had led to the unemployment of handicraft workers was not actually true. A few years later, Li Changling, the alternate Zhixian County, said in a report to Zhang Zhidong: "Since the use of the machine, the poor families in the poor villages have relied on the whole life, and the silk reeling craftsmen have always practiced as before. The silk reeling of the edge machine is fine and brittle, and it is sold to foreign countries and makes a lot of profits. If the inland machine room is not willing to pay this thick value, and because its silk is too thin, it is not very tough, and it is not suitable to weave silk and satin, it is still convenient for the earthen riders, so the two will not hinder. ”
Stereotypical state and county officials snuffed out modern industry, not just xu Geng Majesty as an example. In 1872, Du Fengzhi of Nanhai ZhiXian handled the case of China's first machine spinning mill, which was also unfair and unfair, forcing the major shareholders to auction the machine at a low price under the condition of a small amount of debt, and the initially formed modern productive forces were nipped in the bud. The debt problem of Guangzhou Houyi Spinning Mill can be easily solved through debt restructuring and attracting new shareholders to inject capital, and regain its vitality, but Nanhai Zhixian does not feel that this is his duty.
Extortion of Hong Kong's Richest Man Scheme
In 1882, when Xu Geng was idle, he wrote many drafts for Guangdong official figures to catch knives, one of which was "Please Investigate the Secret Disclosure of Adulterers", which was shocking and vulgar, proposing to accuse the Li Sheng family, the richest man in Hong Kong, on trumped-up charges and the ruse of extorting huge sums of money. This ruse was not accepted by the superiors in the end, but the Li Family knew afterwards that they should be scared out of a cold sweat.
Hong Kong's richest man, Li Sheng
Guangdong Xinhui people Li Liang, Li Sheng brothers, spared wealth, during the Xianfeng years in Guangdong Hong Kong rebellion, for security to avoid Hong Kong, the operation of Jinshan Villa (engaged in North American, Australian trade), pawnshops, silver trumpets, casinos, opium, outsourcing coolies and other businesses, quickly made a fortune, in 1876 ranked 12th in Hong Kong's tax payment, jumped to the 1st place in 1881, is a veritable Hong Kong richest man. Li Liang died early, Li Sheng was responsible for managing the entire family business, many brothers and nephews, each with achievements in business, among which Li Sheng and Li Dechang funded the establishment of the Guangdong Huahe Telegraph Company in 1882, laying a telegraph line from Guangzhou to Kowloon, which played an irreplaceable role in the collection and transmission of French military intelligence in the Sino-French War.
Xu Gengxian picked up the floating words, falsely accusing Li Sheng's brothers of participating in the attack on Beijing and Tianjin with the British army, providing hundreds of thousands of yuan for the British army as military expenses, receiving millions of yuan from the compensation demanded by the British army after the war, and still keeping the royal treasures and antiques looted from the Yuanmingyuan at home. Xu Geng did a little investigation, and the Li family had a property of 200,000 yuan in Xinhui County, and about 300,000 in Guangzhou and Foshan. Xu Geng further framed, saying that the French invaded Vietnam this time, and the Lee family also received economic assistance to the French. Xu Geng secretly convicted the Li family of a heinous crime: "As a Chinese subject, he rebelled against foreign chiefs, assisted the military, attacked Jingque, traced his crimes, and could have been Yi clan." ...... The offender has so many fans, and if he has committed such a crime, if he can lure the case and give a heavy penalty, it will not be difficult to establish a salary of one or two million. (Xu Geng's "Not Self-Pity" Vol. 7) At that time, when France invaded Vietnam, Zhang Shusheng, the governor of Liangguang, was worried about military expenses. Xu Geng offered a plan to Zhang Shusheng to lure Li Sheng back to the interior and intimidate him on trumped-up charges, and it was not a problem to extort one or two million at will. Fortunately, Zhang Shusheng was not confused, and this ruse was not implemented in the end.
Xu Geng Majesty's "Not Self-Compassion"
Xu Geng's scheming reflected the attitude of many officials towards businessmen and entrepreneurs at that time. Needless to say, early Hong Kong entrepreneurs engaged in businesses such as the opium trade and piglet trafficking, which was morally detrimental, but the law at that time did not explicitly prohibit it. After the Qing court strictly banned the piglet trade, the Li family had already taken over, and the general principle of the law was not to investigate the past. The so-called pursuit of Beijing and Tianjin by the British army has no solid evidence, and as for the millions of yuan obtained from China's war reparations, it is completely nonsense. Xu Geng just wanted to use these false "charges" to intimidate, in order to extort a huge amount of money and ask his superiors for credit. At that time, Guangdong Province's annual revenue (fiscal revenue) was only four or five million yuan, and if this plan succeeded, it would indeed get a large windfall. The Lee Sun family's early business activities were indeed morally stained, and they could be persuaded to donate money to carry out charity, in fact, they have donated money to Tung Wah Hospital in Hong Kong to help rescue Chinese refugees and also to help the mainland disaster relief. From a legal point of view only, the Li Sheng family can be described as "pifu is innocent, and he is guilty of his crimes".
Zhang Zhidong helped to exonerate
Xu Geng, such a fierce and vicious cool official, is the treasure in the mind of "Qingliu" Zhang Zhidong. In order to complete the two major tasks of maintaining law and order and collecting money and grain, the governor relied on the appointment of a group of capable and cool officials, which was an official secret that could not be said on the surface, and Zhang Zhidong, who was known for his learning, was no exception. On the other hand, Xu Geng is a top master of official copywriting, and Zhang Zhidong also needs such a knife and pen official.
Xu Geng was suddenly removed from his post in Zhixian County, and the task of paying money and grain was not completed, that is, the official often said "indebtedness". In order to exonerate Xu Geng, Zhang Zhidong ordered some county officials to be given money to make up for Xu Geng's debts, according to Li Hongzhang, this amount was huge and should be more than 10,000 yuan. In 1889, Zhu Cai of Lei Qiong Dao in Guangdong Province wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang, revealing the secret of Zhang Zhidong's help Xu Geng to get out of trouble and get rid of crimes, which attracted Li Hongzhang's great attention. Li Hongzhang wrote back:
Xu Geng is a genius, and those who have heard and destroyed it and those who have reputations spared no effort, and they know that their people are not mediocre. To show the appraisal, to conform to the praise of the seeker, but the reputation is destroyed. There are such people today, how can there be many, smell their years and grandeur, just can do something. Zhen Xuan was in the middle of the redundancy, and ren yi first drama, now Xiang Shuai regained the sin of the book, and made his pawn army, and he was subordinate to jing, and the township knew very well that with pushing and pulling, it could not be said that it was not encountered, and it was not strange to get up again, and it was not a miracle, and it was not good to use its talents. However, if you use ambiguity and avoidance as a good use, there is no one to do anything. Xiang Shuai can make up for his official losses with ten thousand gold, and he will not let him go to Guangdong to know. If there is something wrong on another day, this material will be seen and thought. (The Complete Works of Li Hongzhang, Letter 34, PP. 528-529)
Li Hongzhang's intention, Xu Geng Majesty had the courage to do things, Zhang Shusheng reused him as the head of Nanhai Zhi County, Zhang Zhidong raised ten thousand dollars to make up for his official losses, and exonerated him, although the people who destroyed it were many, and those who had a reputation were few, they were still wizards, and if there was something to do in the future, this person could be of great use. In 1891, Xu Geng was sent to Shandong by Zhang Yao, the governor of Shandong, to Shandong, and in 1894 he was ordered to be transferred to Zhang Zhidong's mission, in 1896 he was demoted to the third rank, and in early 1900 he was transferred to the shogunate of Li Hongzhang.
Follow Li Hongzhang north
At the end of the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu, Cixi set up the eldest brother, and the situation in Beijing was very unfavorable to the foreign affairs faction. Li Hongzhang took the path of Ronglu and was able to appoint the governor of Liangguang and leave the land of right and wrong. Previously, under the two elderly governors of Guangdong, Li Hanzhang and Tan Zhonglin, bandits were everywhere. Li Hongzhang came here, with the help of Xu Geng's experience in curing thieves, "attacking poison with poison" and killing countless people. (Liang Qichao's Biography of Li Hongzhang)
On the 19th day of the fifth lunar month in 1900, Cixi issued an edict that "Li Hongzhang came to Beijing quickly, and the governor of Liangguang, Deshou, was also in charge." Li Hongzhang received a telegram telling The Inspector of Guangdong, Deshou, that he was preparing to leave on the twenty-fifth day. Xu Geng majesty judged that the situation in Beijing was not right, and reminded Li Hongzhang to delay his entry into Beijing. Later, Zhang Zhidong's close aide Qian Ke wrote the "Words of Jin Gaiqiao", believing that Cixi had summoned Li Hongzhang to Beijing at this time, but did not know what to do and transferred any post, which made people suspicious, believing that Cixi had the intention of killing Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang was proud of his high merits and was somewhat entrusted, but fortunately Xu Geng reminded him in time and stopped his steps.
On the 25th day of the fifth lunar month, Cixi issued an edict to wage war against the great powers, declaring that she would "make a big show of tarts and showdowns between male and female" to all countries, and sternly warned the provincial officials that "... He was born from the outside, retreated from the front, willingly obeyed the rebellion, and even acted as a traitor, and immediately and severely reprimanded, and there was no forgiveness." At this time, the telegraph lines from Beijing to other provinces had been cut off by the Boxers, and the edict could not be widely disseminated in a short period of time, and it was only reached by Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, on the twenty-seventh day and forwarded to Li Hongzhang.
On May 29, Xu Gengqi sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang to Sheng Xuanhuai, Liu Kunyi, and Zhang Zhidong, saying: "Twenty-five edicts, Guangdong will not obey, the so-called chaotic orders are also." ("Essays on Ling Xiao Yishi") This telegram is written in a categorical and categorical manner, showing Xu Geng's style. Li Hongzhang, as the chief scholar and governor of Liangguang, was regarded as the leader of the Frontier Ministers, and the telegram laid the foundation for "mutual protection in the southeast", although it was decided by Li Hongzhang, the drafter of the telegram, Xu Geng majesty, also contributed to it.
On June 12, Li Hongzhang was appointed by Cixi as the governor and minister of Beiyang, and it was inconvenient for him to continue to stay in Guangzhou, so he decided to go to Shanghai to see the situation. On June 21, Li Hongzhang set off on a wheel, accompanied by Wang Cunshan, Zeng Guangquan, Liu Xueqian, Xu Geng, Tang Shaoyi, a foreign official, and Mai Xinjian, a full-time medical officer. The next day, Li Hongzhang met with Hong Kong Governor Bu Li in Hong Kong, and a famous group photo was preserved, and the first person on Li Hongzhang's left was Xu Geng Majesty. The second person on Li Hongzhang's left was the medical officer Mai Xinjian, who was mistaken for Liu Xue's consultation for decades.
Li Hongzhang took a group photo with Bu Li and Xu Geng and others
A few years ago, Weibo netizen "LangKe Zhanxin" found a photo of Xu Geng from the English "The Navy and Army Illustrated" on December 1, 1900, marked as "Chui Kung Beh, Chief Secretary of Li Hung Chang", which means "Li Hongzhang's chief copywriter Xu Geng Majesty", Chui Kung Beh is spelled in Cantonese. With the help of this pictorial, "Langke Zhanxin" also recognized Xu Geng and Mai Xinjian in the photo of Li Hongzhang and Bu Li. Inspired by this, I also recognized Xu Geng's "group photo" with Li Hongzhang when he was in Tianjin in a postcard released by Underwood & Underwood, in which Li Hongzhang sat leaning on the coffee table, calm and relaxed, and Xu Geng stood on the other side of the coffee table, looking a little nervous.
During this northward peace talks, Xu Gengxi accompanied Li Hongzhang until his death, during which not only did he get up early and many important documents, but li Hongzhang's illness was mostly released by Xu Geng. After Li Hongzhang's death, Xu Geng added a donation to the alternate Road, went to Jiangsu to serve, and successively managed a number of matters such as tun reclamation and salt affairs, and died in 1907.
The rest of the argument
So far, there is no special study of the character of Xu Geng in the academic circles. Taiwanese writer Gao Baishi exaggerated and rendered the legendary story of Xu Geng's judgment case, creating a so-called "Xu Qingtian" image, which was not thoroughly examined and was not very credible.
A cool official like Xu Geng, with the special talent of mixing up the officialdom, has no understanding of the world trend since the Opium War, and still uses the old scholar-doctor ideology to look at new things. On January 3, 1885, the Japanese scholar Oka Qianyu visited Guangzhou and had a written conversation with Xu Geng and Wen Tingshi. Xu Geng asked Gang Qianyu: "Your country learns from Oumi (the United States), with three thousand years of etiquette and righteousness, once it abandons its old, can not be deplored?" Gang Qianling replied, "Our state is learning from the strengths of all nations and making up for their weaknesses." (Zhonghua Bookstore, 2009, "Sightseeing Chronicle, Sightseeing Continued Sightseeing Grass", p. 170) The difference in the minds and visions of the two scholars and doctors can be seen here.
Before the Sino-Japanese War, the coastal and river-coastal areas initially had the conditions for developing modern industries, and many entrepreneurs also emerged, and their efforts to open mines and set up factories were often obstructed and suppressed by state and county officials. Some Hong Kong Chinese businessmen had taken the lead early, mastered more advanced technology and business philosophy, and had sufficient capital, and the local officials in Guangdong should have invited them to come back to invest; Xu Geng was thinking of inducing Hong Kong's richest man to come back and extort money, which also discouraged Hong Kong businessmen who intended to invest in the mainland. The image of Xu Geng's self-created so-called "strong order" is often contrary to the spirit of the rule of law in modern times in practice.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhong Yuan
Proofreader: Shi Gong